We’re in the unfortunate position of living through another difficult financial period. Those of you that remember the 2008 financial crisis will have hoped that it was the only recession you lived through. As inflation rates keep rising, life is getting much harder for the average person.
Here are some tips on how to Downsize Your Life…
In simple terms, everything is so damn expensive!
We need to find smart ways to save money. And downsizing your life is a great place to start. Basically, downsizing involves going from something big or grand and swapping it for a smaller or more cost-effective thing. It’s usually spoken about in housing terms as people downsize to smaller and more affordable homes. While that is an option, it’s a bit extreme. Instead, here are three other ways to downsize your life and save money.
Downsize your car
Aside from your house, your car is probably the most expensive thing you own. It costs a fortune to run, particularly with fuel prices these days. So, selling your car and getting one that’s cheaper to run is a lot smarter.
You can use online tools like the VW value my car registration search to see how much your vehicle is worth if you wanted to trade it in. Opt for something that’s more fuel-efficient and reliable than your current vehicle. This will help you save a fortune every month on fuel and every year on repairs.
Downsize your shopping
How much money do you spend a week on shopping? If you go to one of the main supermarkets in the UK, you can easily run up a shopping bill between £100-£200 every week.
There are plenty of ways to save money on supermarket shopping, but one of the easiest is to downsize to a cheaper store. Instead of going to Tesco or M&S every week, do your big shop at Lidl or Aldi. Everything is much cheaper, so you can buy all the stuff you like at a fraction of the cost. It all adds up and can slash your weekly shopping bill in half.
Downsize your entertainment
It’s time to be smarter and more proactive with your personal finances. Stop splashing the cash on multiple subscription services that all do the same thing. If you’re subscribed to Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus, you’re probably spending close to £30 a month on entertainment. And this doesn’t even consider a Sky or Virgin Media TV subscription!
Downsize your entertainment by choosing one or two subscription services instead of three or four. Opt for Freeview instead of paying for TV channels too; it’s really not worth it if you’re also paying for a streaming service. The chances are you’ll still be able to keep yourself entertained but for much less money. Also, you can chop and changes subscriptions whenever you want. Have Netflix for a couple of months and then Amazon for another few, etc. It lets you experience all the shows without paying loads of money every single month.
Give downsizing a try to see how much money your family can save. For the most part, you’re making a few small changes and tiny sacrifices that have a hugely positive impact on your life.
Final Thoughts
Do you have any tips on Downsize Your Life? Let me know in the comments below.
Sadly this advice is much needed at this time of a cost living crisis!
I wish it wasn’t – hopefully things start improving for us all soon.
I can’t believe how expensive things have gotten! Wonderful list for helping downsize and save everyone some money! Thanks for sharing 🙂
it’s out of control how expensive things are. I hope things stabilize soon.
This is great advice on things to downsize! I do my grocery shopping at cheaper stores and I only go to a supermarket if I have to. Also, I’m only subscribed to Netflix and we get Disney+ through our phone/internet/tv bundle.
Going into an actual supermarket can result in a lot of additional costs! We only have Amazon Prime & Disney+
These are great tips. I downsided my life last year and have definitely saved money in the process. I think having a saving goal helps too. So any money you save from big shops etc, put towards something you’ve always wanted to do, like travel plans. It’s a great motivator.
having a goal is such a great motivator and keeps you disciplined.
Some good suggestions and things to consider. We couldn’t downsize cars because my partner loves cars too much and saved for YEARS to buy his dream car! Entertainment is a good one, we currently only have Amazon Prime and Netflix and it’s okay for us. There was a time when I had NowTV, Disney+ and something else and it was ridiculous because I barely used them!
Prior to covid, we had loads of TV subscriptions too – but I think we’ve all realised where we can save money.
Fair play about the car – we should all have something we love!
I need to take note on everything you said as I’m now trying to downsize my life. I want to save more money.
That’s great that you have a goal in mind x good luck!
These are some great tips to help downsize and save money. Saving money is so important with everything happening around. Thank you for sharing.
I am definitely looking at ways to downsize my life and these ideas were useful; a good starting point to focus on.
I am glad you found the post useful & good luck with the downsizing.